Miner Rush, a UTEP Miners community

April 27, 2010 - Michael Haynes, a high-scoring forward from Heat Academy in Martinsville, Va., has signed a national letter of intent to play basketball at UTEP beginning with the 2010-11 season. AM Update: Bump'd: ChicagoHoops.com broke this story last week, but now the paperwork is in. Haynes is a heck of a player. After seeing Curry swept up by a Big East program, it's nice for UTEP to sweep one back. Thanks, Miner Mike for posting this!

The one that got away? Houston Stratford star Darrious Curry, a Tony Barbee signee, was released from his UTEP LOI by Coach Tim Floyd on April 14. Today, he decided to accept a "grant-in-aid" package to play for Bobby Huggins' squad at national power West Virginia. Bob Huggins told the Charleston Gazette: "Darrious fills a void that we have at small forward with the losses of Da'Sean (Butler) and Devin (Ebanks). We lost all of our size on the wing and our size is critical to our success. We wanted to add more size to our perimeter."

The Miners basketball team has lost their second Tony Barbee signee in a matter of days, this time it's Darrious Curry. According to Bill Knight, John Bohannon and Matt Korcheck are still committed to become Miners. Best of luck to Darrious Curry wherever he lands. UPDATE: KTSM reports that John Bohannon "is still believed to be coming to El Paso" after meeting with Tim Floyd this week.

Dwayne Polee, an exceptional athlete, had committed to USC before he ever played a game at Westchester High. After Tim Floyd resigned, he withdrew his commitment. Now, the 6'7 small forward (and 3-Star Rivals Recruit) has narrowed his choices to UTEP, UNLV, and Georgia. Polee said that he intends to make his decision "within weeks." I am still waiting to see if recruits that Tony Barbee signed (John Bohannon, Matt Korcheck, Jamison Stearns, and Darrious Curry) will still enroll at UTEP. With Derrick Caracter leaving early, the Miners now have another scholarship available. According to the article, "Polee, a master dunker and a stellar shot blocker with his 40-inch vertical leap and aggressiveness around the basket, has been named the Daily Breeze Player of the Year after expanding his game and having his best season for Westchester (32-3), which captured back-to-back L.A. City Section and CIF Division I state championships." You know how sometimes, people say they run a 4.4 forty but they really don't? Or have a 40 inch vertical? Well, Polee has a 40 inch vertical. The kid can fly. Polee's father, Dwayne Polee, Sr. was hired as the Director of Basketball Operations at USC shortly after Polee committed to become a Trojan. The Polee family is something of basketball royalty in L.A. as Polee, Sr. was also a high school sensation and named the City Section Player of the Year too, before going on to star at Pepperdine. He also played briefly for the L.A. Clippers. His family undoubtedly has close ties with Coach Floyd, and he would be a steal this late in the process. Also, if Polee were to recruit, it would help UTEP get a nice swipe at former rival, New Mexico, as the Lobos reportedly were recruiting him hard. Now, it appears the Lobos are out of the mix.